Dustin Odham - Setting Daily Intentions

Monday, October 24th, 2022, a school shooter killed a teacher and a student in St. Louis, Missouri. After the shooting, a letter was found in the gunman's car. A few lines stood out to podcast host Dustin Odham. The writing describes a lonely life.

Odham was impacted by the letter because it shows how the shooter had fallen through the cracks. This episode does not focus on the shooting itself but on what educators and individuals working with students can do to ensure care for the pupils in their charge—Odham shares inspiring and practical advice.

Odham, the host of the Change Starts Here podcast, discusses how he sets daily intentions every morning. He recommends that before your day begins, take a few moments and visualize who and how you’re going to interact with people. Further, he suggests, “Also, visualize what your attitude is going to be like when the people you’re not expecting come into your life that day. And how you’re going to love and serve them.”

• Odham describes how to track the people in your care and why that’s important for ensuring no one falls through the cracks.
• He discusses how people receive love differently and refers to the book and theory of the Five Love Languages.
• Odham reviews his mission statement. He urges others to create their own and reference it daily (more on building a mission statement in the episode about The Change Starts Here Origin Story).

Every morning, Odham suggested: “Set 2-3 minutes to turn off the sound, close your eyes, and visualize the people that you can see that you know you’re going to interact with every day to set your intentions on how you’re going to love and serve them.”

Dustin Odham is currently the Managing Director at Franklin Covey. He’s worked as a Turnaround Specialist at St. Louis public schools and still lives in St. Louis, Missouri area.